Studio Tour

EchoTown Studio

New SSL studio near Dorchester, England

Nick Capaldi shows us around EchoTown

Tour around Echotown Studios with singer/songwriter Nick Capaldi.  Nick and his wife, Grace, shared a dream to build a high end studio in their hometown and Echotown Studio is the result! We were delighted to visit to find out more about this super well equipped studio.

Much of the studio equipment has history, an Otari 24 track tape machine that was last used by Tom Jones with producer Ethan Johns, a Fender Bassman rig that belonged to Mani from the Stone Roses, a Hohner Clavinet D6 played by Stevie Wonder, and a very rare Baldwin Electric Harpischord that used to have a home at London’s renowned Olympic studios.

Echotown recording studio

The machine room is clearly visible from the control room with a sliding glass door which is convenient when using the room to record vocals allowing vision between the singer and producer.

There are three analogue tape machines: Studer J37, Otari MTR 90 and for mix down a two track Otari MTR 12.

The main recording space is of a good size and has a high ceiling giving a great atmosphere and sound - there's a nice guitar cupboard to help give isolation for band live takes.  The atmosphere is lovely, scenic views of greenery outside with a massive recreation space just beyond.  Not to be forgotten is the excellent range of instruments and amps available but our favourite things are in the outbuilding (towards the end of the video) - the echo plates..  The mic's available are pretty impressive, so we've listed them below.

In all, there's everything you need to make a great record here! 

 

Microphones

AKG C 451 EB
Calrec CB20 C x2
Calrec Soundfield MK lV 
Neumann KM84 x2
Neumann U47
Neumann U47 FET
Neumann U67 x2
Neumann U87 x3
Rode NTK x2
SE Electronics X1A 
Sony C38
Sony ECM-979
Altec / Western Electric 639A
Coles STC 4038 x2
EMI PM245
RCA 44-BX
Russian Lightsaber x2
AKG D112 MKII
AKG D12 
AKG D190-CS 
AKG D19C 
AKG D202 CS “Sound Rocket”
AKG D30
Beyer Fi-Cord 901
Beyer M 201 
Beyer M69 
Beyer M69 N
Beyer Revox M 610 
Beyer Soundstar
Crown PZM-6LPG
Electro-Voice 660 
Electro-Voice 664
Electro-Voice RE20
EMI PM201A
Film Industries M7
Philips EL 6014/00 
Reslo MPD 2/L x2
RFT Funkberater DM-622
Sennheiser MD 441-U x 2
Shure Beta 91A 
Shure PG52 
Shure SM57 x 4
Shure SM58 x 4
Shure SM7 
Sony ECM-50
STC 4021 “Ball and Biscuit”
Telefunken MD 418 x 4
Vitavox B50

 

Please pay them a visit!